Jeffrey McManus

Link: Tickets Play a Big Role in Madonna Deal

"The possibility of having Live Nation as a competitor drew a bring-it-on response from [Barry] Diller, chairman and chief executive of IAC [Ticketmaster's parent company]. ‘We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our infrastructure. Let someone else make these investments and get into ticketing,’ Diller said at a New York conference in September. ‘It’ll be good for us and interesting for them.’

About 22 percent of all event tickets are now sold online and they are expected to generate sales of $4.9 billion this year, according to Jupiter Research retail analyst Patti Freeman Evans."

Earth to Barry Diller: the value of your business is not equivalent to the hundreds of millions of dollars you’ve invested in infrastructure. It may not even represent a particularly steep barrier to entry, assuming that’s the fright wig you’re trying to brandish here. You may very well discover that your big expensive infrastructure is a liability when a well-heeled competitor comes along to disrupt your business armed with little more than…the internet.

Just like the wise man says, it’ll be good for us and interesting for you.

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